Enhancement of review and inspection of invoices of petroleum businesses in Vietnam

Enhancement of review and inspection of invoices of petroleum businesses in Vietnam​ (Image from the internet)

On July 5, 2024, the General Department of Taxation of Vietnam issued Official Dispatch 2886/TCT-TTKT regarding the enhancement of review and inspection of invoices of petroleum businesses in Vietnam.

Enhancement of review and inspection of invoices of petroleum businesses in Vietnam​

To be specific, following the directive of the Prime Minister of Vietnam under Document No. 2730/VPCP-KTTH dated April 24, 2024, regarding the implementation of electronic invoices for each sale transaction for retail petroleum activities, the General Department of Taxation of Vietnam has issued Official Dispatch No. 1780/TCT-DNL dated April 26, 2024, to continue enhancing the inspection and supervision of the implementation of electronic invoices for each sale transaction for retail petroleum activities.

In Official Dispatch No. 1780/TCT-DNL dated April 26, 2024, the General Department of Taxation directed the Tax Departments to focus on strictly controlling and supervising the issuance and use of invoices for petroleum sales to promptly detect any risk indicators in invoice management, usage, and tax management. Additionally, the General Department of Taxation issued directives for the Tax Authorities to inform businesses to comply with the regulations of legal documents regarding invoices, documents, and the directives of the Government of Vietnam and the Ministry of Finance.

To further strengthen the monitoring of the electronic invoicing practices of petroleum business outlets ensuring compliance with tax management laws, the General Department of Taxation requests the Tax Departments of provinces and centrally-run cities to immediately implement the following tasks:

- Directly managing officials of retail petroleum enterprises must regularly review data on the electronic invoice system and analyze, assess, and select businesses with high-risk indicators for immediate inspection by the Tax Department.

- When inspecting businesses, perform comparison and reconciliation operations of accounting books and actual transactions to determine the compliance of businesses with tax and invoice laws. Verify purchasers against invoices with abnormally large quantities of goods, not consistent with the practical activities of retail petroleum since the customers of these businesses are mainly individuals using cars and motorcycles. In cases where violations are detected, the Tax Authority shall handle according to its functions and authorities. If violations of specialized laws in petroleum trading are discovered, the Tax Department shall report to the provincial People's Committee for the concerned authorities to consider handling in accordance with the law.

- Develop inspection and monitoring plans for the issuance of electronic invoices for each sale transaction by week, ensuring at least 50% of outlets in the managed area are inspected and monitored weekly.

- The Tax Authority shall take the lead and cooperate with relevant agencies such as the Department of Industry and Trade, Department of Information and Communications, Department of Science and Technology, etc., to evaluate the implementation status of electronic invoice issuance regulations for each sale transaction by enterprises engaged in retail petroleum business within the managed area. Report to the provincial or city People's Committee for plans to support and guide enterprises in developing the technical infrastructure for choosing automatic data transmission solutions for the issuance of electronic invoices for each sale transaction in retail petroleum. This contributes to improving the effectiveness of the inspection and monitoring of electronic invoice issuance and use by businesses as stipulated.

More details can be found in Official Dispatch 2886/TCT-TTKT issued on July 5, 2024.

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